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Thibaut Courtois says star Chelsea sold in 2019 is definitely one of the best players he’s ever played with

Srinivas Sadhanand

Tue 18 February 2025 13:15, UK Updated Tue 18 February 2025 13:54, UK

During his time at Chelsea, Thibaut Courtois had the honour of playing with a whole host of absolute greats.

Back in Courtois’ time at Chelseaﷺ, the Blues had a plethora of elite players at their disposal — which led to him winning two Premier League titles as well a FA Cup and a Carabao Cup apiece even before his move to Real Madrid — where winning silverware has become almost habitual for the Belgian international.

Returning from his three-season loan spell from Atletico Madrid in 2014, Thibaut Courtois♑ joined a dressing room that boasted of seasoned winners such as John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic to name a few.

Furthermore, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea side at the time also had incredible attackers such as Eden Hazard𝄹, Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa at the peak of their powers.

﷽Naturally, Courtois developed into a superstar himself, watching world-class players train and play on a consistent basis.

Perhaps a high-profile switch to Real Madrid🔯 could have come too early for the 32-year-old had he not grown as a player and a character in the way that he did at Stamford Bridge.

Thibaut Courtois says Eden Hazard is one of the best players he’s ever played with

ꦍIn the Spanish capital, however, Courtois arguably played with a higher caliber of talent than at Chelsea.

ဣAs a result, when the two-time Champions League winner was asked to pick his all-time five-a-side team out of players he has played with, he picked four players from his current club.

🅰However, the one player who featured in Courtois’ side who he saw the best of in a Chelsea shirt was Hazard.

ꦆCourtois told Rio Ferdinand: Presents: “I would put Eden, he’s for sure the best one in the world. I’m sure, I’m sure. When we play the games, like the small side games, five against five or so, it’s always man-marking. So when you’re in possession, Eden would score and when you have to defend, you’re defending with one.”

The retired winger continues to be adored by the footballing fraternity, with ﷽Jamie Carragher claiming Hazard is better than Dennis Bergkamp — which sums up how outstanding a player he was at his elegant best. Despite playing him with him at Liverpool, 🃏Curtis Jones named Hazard as superior to Mohamed Salah in terms of his technique as well.

🌳Thierry Henry admitted to loving watching Hazard play🥃 as the 34-year-old will always be remembered for being one of the most entertaining players of his generation.

John Terry said Eden Hazard could do things only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could

🉐John Terry also revealed in October 2023 that Hazard is one of the best players he has had the pleasure of playing alongside.

🅠Terry said on The Obi One Podcast: “100 per cent. I think the most gifted and talented player is [Gianfranco] Zola and him for sure. I still say the best player in the history of Chelsea is Lamps [Frank Lampard] for what he achieved and longevity of it.”

🐓John Terry went as far to as claim that Hazard could do things with the ball at his feet only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could.

🅠“I think in pure talent, Hazard has to be the main guy. When you play in a team with him, and you look around going who’s going to produce a little something here, there’s not many players throughout my career at Chelsea that had that. The Ronaldo’s and the Messi’s can do it, Hazard could go and do it. If he wanted to go and score, he could go and score.

✃“I think when you play with him, it probably becomes a little bit frustrating because you’re going, ‘you can do that for 60 minutes ’but he’ll give you glimpses of that throughout the game. In training, like [John Obi] Mikel said, he’s non-existent. He didn’t want to know…He was an absolute superstar. A top, top player.”

🍎Despite how highly both Courtois and Grealish rate Hazard, just a glimpse of watching him on the pitch was enough to sum up how sublime a player he was.